Seed-corn grader.



' c. B. BAUMGARTNERQ SEED CORN GRADER. APPLICATION FIJ.ED OCT. 20. I916.

Pate1ited Dec. 18, 1917:

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

c. B. BAUMGARTNER. SED CORN GRADER. APPLICATION LED OCT. 20, I9I6.

Patented Dec. 18, 1917;

2 sHEETS-SHEETZ f7?zzznton n W 6 a m .5

' w 1 h licationfi1ed0ctoioer 20,191. jSeria lNopl26,72l.

' IRLES n.- BAMGRTNR, 015 MANCHESTER, IOWA, ASSIGNOR'O JIAl-LES- To alZwhom-t may concern:. -Be it known. that I, CHARLES B. BAUM- GARTNER, a citizen .of the UnitedStates of America, and a -residnt of Manchester, Del-- aware county, Iow, have inveted certain new anduseful Improvements in=Seed-Corfl Graders, of whch the following iS= a spacification.

- -My invention relatesto improvements in.

sed-corn graders; and the object Ofmy improvementis to :supply a device proVided With var1ous means for:separat1i1gvarymg' s1zes 0f corn -kernels, .to eliminate: impertect kernelslfron thosle suitbleto be used for seed. 1.3 T his objct I have accomplished b vgthe means which are hereinafter described; and Claimed,ancl Which are illustrated in the accompanying 'drawings,n Whch Figure 1 is an iscmetric perspective view '10f my. improved seed-ccrn grader;' Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section ofthe device taken on the line (4-5 of Fig. 4:; Fig. 3 is a similar view of a modified device; Fig. '4-is an cle- Vation of one end of the grader, with parts broken away; Fig. 5 is a top plan view ,thereof, and Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectionthereof taken on the line cd of said Fig. 2. S1nnlar numerals of reterence denote similar partsthroughout the several views.

sdes 1 are longitudinally horizontall grooved at 6 and 12 t0 admit therein the side edges of vertically-spaced horizontally arranged corrugated plates 5 and 9 respectively.

T he upper plate 5 has a number of longitudinal corrugations 7, With each trough thereof provided with a number of elongated slots 8. The lower plate 9 has a number of transverse corrugations 10, with each trough thereof provided With a plurality of relatively short slots 11.

The cross-bar 4 stops the one end of the space over the plate 5 and between the sides 1, while the other end of' said space is stopped by a cross-bar 9, which has at its ends pr0jecting pintles 3 received pivotally in sockets 16 in the sides 1, to allow said bar 2 to rock as indicated by the dotted limes in said; Figs..2 and 3, to thereb furnis h-az' dehvery opening atthat end of the plate 5 When required.;

;Thespace betWeenthe plates 5 and 9 is. permanentli stopped. -at its end under the. rcck=bar:2, bymneahs .of the.fixed cross-bar. 15, theabtherend.of said space being open.--

The end OSEZ the; lcmest;- interspce: Of: the

plate. 9 and the bottC1fi-plate 14 1S open;

under the left-hand end of the grader,z and closed fat: its otherend bythe fixed Crossbarl3;.

1 In Fig. 3 is shown a modification of:zlthe device, -w.heren the bottom-plate l4:is re- 'rnoved, and thesloping cross-plate;.l7 sub-' upon the uppermost corrugated plate 5, and

the grader manually shaken to and fro horizontally,thus -puttihg the kernels in mo-' tion along said plate t0 cause the kernels to all move over the slots 8 in the troughs between the longitudinal corrugations 7. Those kernels which are too thick to be suitahle for use in distribution by the dropping mechanism of a corn-planter, are retained, by said plate, beirig unable to pass through the sl0ts 8, While all other kernels drop through said slots upon the transversely corrugated plate 9. Continued shaking o the g1ader causesthe small and insufliciently developed kernels Which have passed the slots 8 to also pass through the slots 11 t0 drop upon the bottom plate 14, or in case the bottom plate 14 is not used, as in the modified gracler, shown in Fig. 3, the small kernels Will pass the slots 11 and drop underneath the gra ler into a receptacle provided for them. Otherwis, these small kernels pass off from the bottom plate 14: at its open end to be received in such a receptacle.

T he perfectly formed kernels received on the plate 9, pass ofi' therefrom to the right and drop into another receptacle placed therefor. .Vhen the separation has bcen fully accomplished, the cross-bar 2 may be rocked, thus opening the left-hand end of the. grader at that.place to permit the excessively large kernels to be sl:aken or dumped from the upper plate 5, wthout any necessity for inverting the grader, as ne ces-,

sary in a grader not provided With such a rock-bar end. A

The long1tud1nal arrangement of the corrugations 7 on the upper plate 5, facilitates the first separation of the largest kernels from the mass placed thereon, but the transverse corrugations 10 of the lower plate 9 hold back the separation until the smalleszt kernels can Work through the slots 1l.

' It Will be observed that the orificed lower plate 9 s.extended at its delivery endfor a 4 distance beyond the upper separating plate 5, the extended part containing the orifices 11 and transverse corrugations 10, so that the separation of the kernels may be prolonged along sad plate to its end to more completely separate the smaller imperfect kernels.

'HaVing described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, s: 7

1. A Seed corn grader, comprising a trame, spaced snperposed screens mounted open only at its end opposite the open end of the interspace of said screens.

2. A seed corn-grader, compnsmg a trame, a screen positioned in said trame below its top, the parts of the frame thereabove forming Wth said screen an open top receptacle, one end part of the frame 'above' the screen being movably connected thereto to open away from the screen,. an-

'other screen positioned in the frame *below said. screen, spaced therefrom and inclosed all around by the frame exoept at one open end, and an imperf0rate plate mounted across the lower part of the frame, cl0sed thereagainst at0neend and spaced from and positioned underneath thelower screen.

3. A seed-cdrn g'rader, comprising a trame, a screen positioned in sad trame, anotherand tranSversely cor1*ugated screen postioned in said frame below the firstmentioned screen and having its: deliveryend extended for a.distance beyond the adjacent end of the latter, the lower screen havng orifices inthe depressons of the corrugamonstherem* and also d1str1buted evenly over the whole surface-cf its said ex' tended delivery-end.

Signed at Manchester, IoWa, this 16 day of Oct. 1916.

CHARLES B. BAUMGARTNER.

Witnesses:

C. O. DUTTON, JOHN R. l/V00D;

Copies of thls paient may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commlss1oner of Patents,

- Washngton, D. C. 

